


On Clones

by Starofwinter



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Implied/Referenced Character Death, Meta Essays, Original Character Death(s), archive of thebisexualmandalorian's blog, prose
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-06
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-09-12 20:08:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 743
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16878393
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starofwinter/pseuds/Starofwinter
Summary: A series of short meta essays based on my thoughts about clones.





	1. On Pilots

**Author's Note:**

> These are just my headcanons, I don't demand anyone else agree, but if you do like them, you're more than welcome to use them, as long as you give credit and link back!

Pilots are widely regarded as the most absolutely batshit of all the GAR, except  _maybe_  the heavy gunners.  They stare death by fire or the vacuum of space in the face every battle and say  _“not today motherfucker,”_ they're granted a little leeway on that.  Of course, since that's everyday life for them, they’re adrenaline junkies  _at best._    The ground troops joke about “too much zero g” scrambling their brains but goddamn if they don’t respect every last one of the crazy motherfuckers, because there is no better sight than a bunch of fighters coming through the smoke when you’re pinned under heavy fire.

As a result of this, it’s an unofficial GAR rule that pilots are never allowed to mingle with the heavy gunners, unless you really want something to be on fire or blown up.

Someone always has a story about a buddy’s batchmate’s squadron leader who flew a mission buck-ass naked.  All pilots have been  _explicitly banned_ from trying it, but of course they try anyway.

Pilots are shorter and slimmer than “standard” troopers, to control how much extra weight is in the fighters.  That doesn’t mean they’re any less capable of fucking your shit up if you want to start a fight with them, and they're happy to prove it.

Nobody talks about the ghost ships, don’t ask about them. 

Pilots are a very tight-knit group, and if general GAR gossip is rampant, the comm chatter from the pilots is  _wild._ They work hard and play harder - if shenanigans are happening on leave, there’s an 85% chance there’s at least one pilot involved.  Furthermore, they run in packs, and the amount of chaos caused is directly proportional to how many pilots are there at any given time.  Again, add heavy gunners for even more chaos.

Because there's no word for  _pilot_ in Mando'a, a pilot is referred to as **can'gal** , the same word for starfighter.  In a sense, they  _are_ their ships.  


	2. On Language

Clones have their own language that’s  _mostly_  Mando'a, but they’ve picked up words from all over for specific things because like, some languages just have better words for a certain thing, so they just use that.  As a result, clones talking together make literally no sense to outsiders, but perfect sense to them.  

If they’re actually using Basic in their off-time, it’s because they’re making an effort to include someone.  It's a sign of friendship and respect.  Depending on the 'outsider,' they may even teach them their own language, including them further, and marking them as more than friends, they're  _one of them._

The dialects even vary between companies, based on who’s been stationed where - they pick up bits and pieces of languages from wherever they've been stationed - but they're similar enough that they can understand each other, and many of them even share the same language; for example, the 212th and 501st are stationed together often enough that they share the same dialect.  It's very distinctive in that it includes Huttese, picked up from Anakin.


	3. Sailor's Valentines

Sailor’s Valentines have been a fascination of mine forever.  They’re jewelry/knick-knack boxes covered in intricate patterns made out of sea shells, made by sailors to bring back to their sweethearts.

Clones make them in their spare time for lovers and friends, with bits and pieces gathered on missions, bits of broken armor, blaster pieces, stones, fabric, and trinkets from across the galaxy, a map of where they've been and who they are.  Many of them are never finished.  

Some of them are finished, but they're delivered with an apology by familiar-unfamiliar faces of their brothers, because the one that made it was left where he fell, on a planet light-years away. 

Some of those are delivered with a gift inside, intended to be a proposal, for a life after a war that they would never see.  A quiet "they loved you" is the only goodbye for a lover who was widowed before they were ever married.

In a kinder world, one where the war ends without the fall of the galaxy, a museum on Coruscant with an exhibit of those boxes, each with a card showing the name and number of a soldier who never came back for his beloved.


	4. A Silly Thought About Names

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A very very short idea that's spawned some incredible names.

Most of the clones have very short, to-the-point names (Rex, Cody, Fives, Kix, Sev, Fi, etc.)  _but_  what about clones giving each other Puritan-style names that end up shortened?  Say, CT-2929 is “Told-Death-To-Fuck-Off” but most people just call him “Fuckoff.”  
  


 


End file.
